The internet is a global collection of computer networks that provides individual users the ability to access internet services including the world wide web (Web). With internet access, individual users may, among other functions, send electronic mail (also known as "email") to other users and remotely login to high power computers known as servers connected to the internet. Connecting to the internet requires a modem, a software communication package and a personal computer system as is well known in the art.
The Web is a collection of Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) servers that incorporate text, graphics, audio files, video and information in other formats. Web browsers such as NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR enable users to locate and connect to a Web page. "NETSCAPE " and "NAVIGATOR" are claimed to be trademarks of Netscape Communications Corporation of Mountain View, Calif. Before the Web page may be located however, it must first be created in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), which is the standard language of the Web, and posted on a server, a process that costs several hundreds of dollars and consumes several hours of programming effort. Such costs are usually tolerable if the information contained on the page does not change over a long period of time or if only a few pages need are to be created. However, if the information is dynamic, the costs associated with updating the information can quickly escalate as can the time required to update the information. Similarly, if multiple pages need to be created, the costs associated with the creation will quickly increase.
If the Web page is intended to perform interactive functions, such as survey a class of users on a selected topic, a webmaster, that is an individual responsible for maintaining the computer server and the web pages stored in the server's memory, must develop Perl scripts for each web page, a slow and time consuming task. Further, the webmaster must also develop a relational database comprising a plurality of tables and interface the tables with the scripts to collect users responses, another time consuming task. Accordingly, if several surveys are contemplated, it is desirable to create a software tool that eliminates significant involvement by the webmaster in creating and posting the surveys.
It would also be desirable to permit remote users the ability to access database information over the internet so as to facilitate commercial transactions or dissemination of information via dynamic Web pages. For example, airline reservations, banking transactions and corporate or government database transactions over the internet require the user to have restricted access to large data sets which are often configured as a relational database.
While current internet technology permits the user to transfer sets of data from the Web server to their computer, the user's computer must have sufficient computer processing power and data storage capacity to store and manipulate the information. In addition, the user must often times download entire files when only a small amount of information is required. Such transfers are time consuming and decrease the available bandwidth of the internet. Further, if the user does not have the proper application software, including the proper version of software, the downloaded file may not be useable. In many situations, the owner of the database may not desire users to have complete copies of the database. Accordingly, such owners may simply provide a limited subset of information to a Web page in the hopes that such information satisfies the needs of a majority of users.
Unfortunately, it is impractical to design a permanent Web page with data that is constantly changing due to the difficulty in time and effort that would be necessary to maintain an up-to-date Web page. Further, it is desirable to ensure that users will have access to the data sets while preventing unauthorized modification of the database.